Touched by a Kossivas
Remember Vanderlei de Lima? He was the little-known runner from Brazil who was leading the Olympic marathon in Athens when a spectator jumped out of the crowd and attacked him.
Remember Polyvios Kossivas? Probably not, but Brazil’s Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper tracked down the bearded Greek stranger, who went to De Lima’s aid, freed him from his attacker and pushed him back on the course, yelling, “Go, go!” and who is now a hero in Brazil.
Kossivas, 53, and his family visited Rio de Janeiro this month at the invitation of Brazil’s Olympic committee and was on hand when De Lima, the eventual marathon bronze medalist, was honored as Brazil’s sportsman of the year.
Reuters reported that Kossivas was also invited onto the field at the renowned Maracana stadium before a soccer match, visited an Ayrton Senna exhibition in Sao Paulo and saw the famed statue of Christ in Rio.
“God put him there,” De Lima said of Kossivas’ being in the right spot on the marathon course. “I consider him more than a brother. He’s my angel.”
A very Posh Christmas
Christmas was a-comin’ and the butler was getting cranky.
Small wonder if the butler in question is employed by David and Victoria Beckham, otherwise known as the Real Madrid soccer star and his wife, the former Posh Spice.
It seems the Beckhams’ former butler, John Giles-Larkin, quit earlier this month and, gosh, they just didn’t have anyone to unwrap all those presents Saturday.
Victoria Beckham put her foot down – stamp it like Victoria? – and her hubby bowed, agreeing to hire a highly recommended chap at a reported $1,800 a day to play Jeeves on Christmas.
The new butler spent four hours on Christmas morning, unwrapping the mountainous pile of gifts the Beckhams have bestowed on each other, their offspring and other relatives. The rest of the time he was charged with making sure all cell phones were turned off so the Beckham clan could enjoy an uninterrupted Christmas dinner.
Not rain, sleet, or Stephen Jackson …
The NBA has signed a licensing agreement for 30 of its players to appear on postage stamps in 50 countries, and Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times has a couple of questions.
“With the Vince Carter stamp, can you mail it in from Canada?” he asks, adding, “Who better to go postal than Ron Artest?”
It’s kind of a Hokie gift
Among the gifts that Sugar Bowl officials are giving to participating players is a mini-barbecue grill that Virginia Tech defensive lineman Darryl Tapp can’t wait to try out.
“Man, that’s sweet,” Tapp, 20, told Bloomberg News. “I like to eat after curfew sometimes, so I might be cooking my own food in the hotel room.”
Next year: a pair of Prada socks
The Jets’ offensive linemen returned from their meeting Wednesday to find a stack of boxes in front of their lockers. Santa Curtis had come to town.
It’s an NFL tradition for quarterbacks to buy gifts for their offensive linemen, but Curtis Martin thought the blockers who have paved his way this season deserved a little something for their trouble. So each member of the line got a rolling suitcase, duffle bag and shaving kit.
From Louis Vuitton, no less.
“A nice little gift from Curtis,” said center Kevin Mawae, who is notoriously hard to please when it comes to gifts.
In 2002, Chad Pennington got the starting offensive linemen $400 ostrich skin boots.
“Full quill,” Mawae pointed out.
“Freakin’ Mawae,” Pennington joked in a recent interview. “They didn’t fit him. I had to send his back and get him another pair.”